There are several credit card options out there and I think most were discussed upthread. What's good to consider is what to expect from the various banks.
Bank of America
- Offers a fully secured card
- Relationship heavy FI so if you also open a checking account and use it, they tend to both graduate you sooner than expected, and cards can grow quickly with them when scores hit about 710 and up
- Also offers a partially secured card (you'd have to apply for a regular unsecured card and then they'd counter with it). They ask for $99 deposit and give you a $500 credit limit. Over time it graduates, but you still earn the regular cashback rewards while its secured/partially secured
- With the partially secured card, usually at graduation they'll unsecure it and bump it up to $1,500 (you can still ask for more but expect a HP)
- Graduation can be anywhere from 9-24 months based on the profile (dirtier profiles take longer to graduate)
- With fully secured you can determine your credit limit by depositing more funds into the secure CD
- Aimed at rebuilders or new to credit
Discover
- Offers a fully secured card
- Graduation seems accelerated compared to other banks (around 8-11 months)
- Allows deposits from $200 - $2,500 max
- Still earns rewards and also gets the traditional cash-back match for first year
- Aimed at new to credit
- If new to credit, they want to be one of the early ones so they can gain all your business -- they dont like being the 4th or 5th card in the lineup
Capital One
- Offers a fully secured card
- Graduation reviews begin around 8 months, but this one can be tougher to graduate compared to other secured cards
- Once you activate your account, the limit is locked (vs BofA where you can add more funds as you go)
- Also offers partially secured by depositing $49, $99 or $200 -- they'll tell you which you qualify for
- Very forgiving and friendly to rebuilders and new to credit
- Once graduated the buckets are pretty firm so when you're ready for a higher limit card, you'll likely get forced into having to apply outright
Citi Bank
- Offers a fully secured card
- Limits between $200 - $2,500, once deposit is locked in, you can't add more
- No rewards
- Aimed at new credit, not very friendly to rebuilders
- Graduation is around 18 months so they'll definitely make you earn it
There are many secured options out there, but these seem to be some of the more popular ones. Just depends on your long term goals. If your scores were much higher today and could pick any of the banks (who offer secured cards), where would you gravitate to?
- Bank of America who offers SP CLI's and gets very generous when you've established that relationship?
- Citi who has a variety of legacy and cobranded cards, but is known to be a bit stingier with start limits that grow painfully slow?
- Capital One who would require a triple pull for every new card you try to get with them since they bucketed you?
- Discover who loves some, and hate the rest? Offers SP CLI's and get high limits without having very high income?
Keep searching and eventually you'll find out which one fits your goals the best.
Depending on wher @Anonymous lives, TD Bank may also be an option. If you are in NC or southeast in general, they are a sold option. Time to graduate (in theory) is 7 months. I didn't open the card because I was able to get in with Navy around the same time.
Also, not sure if it has reopened up but someone posted about the mythical Amazon secured card. While it is a store card, if you do a lot of shopping at Amazon, then it might be worth it. But again, don't know if it back... just that someone asked about it last week.
@designated_knitter wrote:Depending on wher @Anonymous lives, TD Bank may also be an option. If you are in NC or southeast in general, they are a sold option. Time to graduate (in theory) is 7 months. I didn't open the card because I was able to get in with Navy around the same time.
The language TD uses is a bit fuzzy; the language says "... If you use and maintain a Credit Card Account for 7 consecutive Billing Cycles without committing an act of default pursuant to the Agreement you may be eligible to graduate to an unsecured TD Bank credit card automatically..."
The reason I call it "fuzzy" is A) I got my first statement (for the $29 Annual Fee) a week or so before I got my card, and B) I had my card "unsecured" six months, almost to the day, after my first charge. Once unsecured, the locked savings account is unlocked and the card is promoted to the 3/2/1 graduated rewards structure.
@Horseshoez wrote:
@summerterrace wrote:Discover has a good secured card.
If you can get approved for one, I could not.
@Horseshoez just keep trying with Disco if you really want it. I was in the same boat for a long time where I couldn't get their secured card. I would get so mad at them because they would keep sending me mailers telling me to apply but yet could not get approved.
Then, exactly 2 years ago -- about 2 years after my 2015/16 "fall from grace" (as opposed to my June, 2019 plummet when Cap1 shut me down), I was approved. I don't think I did a pre-qual since I don't think I knew about it at the time. I think it was just my scores were relatively high, I got cocky and app'ed and was approved for the secured card. At the time, I had a *really* dirty file. Several COs that were just over 2 years old... several late payments from about the same era.
However, I think maybe what made the difference is that I had loaded up on SCT cards back in 2014/2015 and around about 2016, closed everything except for my 3 Cap1 cards.
It sounds like they have a lot of internal "un-written" rules and perhaps you have to be just a bit further out from your ch13 (like 2 years?) to be considered. Probably something, too about no more than x open credit cards (though that isn't an issue for you -- what you lack in quantity, you've made up for in quality!).
I guess this is a long winded way of saying if I got in, almost anyone can!
@designated_knitter, thanks for the comments. At this point I have three good rewards cards which cover many aspects of my normal monthly spend, errr, except for travel, as such, I no longer have a need, want, or desire for another card; said another way, Discover pretty much lost me as a potential customer. If/when I apply for another card some time in the future, it will be for a premium card which provides tangible travel benefits; prior to COVID I traveled for my company a lot (I took nearly 2-dozen trips in 2019), and there are pretty good odds I'll be back on the road some time later this year. Given Discover has no travel card related offerings pretty much rules them out.